Whipping crane



Aug. 28, 1962 F. POHL WHIPPING CRANE Filed June 5, 1959 INVENTORQ FRIEDRICH POHL United States Patent Ofiice 3,051,324 Patented Aug. 28, 1962 3,051,324 WHIPPING CRANE Friedrich Poh], Hamburg, Germany, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Atlas Werke A.G., Bremen, Germany Filed June 5, 1959, Ser. No. 818,418 Claims priority, application Germany June 6, 1958 Claims. (Cl. 212-35) The present invention relates to whipping cranes, and is particularly concerned with an improved column structure for whipping cranes, which permits the employment of overhang beams of dilferent lengths, while the load path of loads carried by the crane remains generally horizontal and within reasonable height limits.

In the use of whipping cranes, it becomes necessary to provide for different degrees of overhang of the beam, and, heretofore, this has been accomplished by providing different crane structures. This makes it an expensive matter to provide cranes for various installations and limits each individual crane to a certain scope of work. With a short beam, for example, the load could be conveyed only a certain distance, whereas, with long beams, the crane would project to an excessive height when operating over short distances.

The present invention deals with this problem by providing a special column structure for whipping cranes adapted for receiving a plurality of overhang beams of different length. Thus, with a standard column, a plurality of different crane structures can be erected, or a single crane structure can be provided with extra overhang beams to vary the jog scope of the crane.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a whipping crane with overhang beam, which will overcome the above mentioned drawbacks.

It is another object of this invention to provide a whipping crane with overhang beam, which will permit the employment of various lengths of overhang beams without requiring any structural changes in the rest of the crane.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a whipping crane of the type set forth in the preceding paragraphs, in which the employment of overhang beams of dilferent lengths can be taken care of by merely exchanging the overhang beams, whereas the remaining structural elements of the crane remain unchanged, and in particular the same crane column of the same height can be employed.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a whipping crane according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates the whipping crane of FIG. 1 but with an overhang beam of diiferent length.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of the crane of FIG. 1 but on a scale larger than that of FIG. 1.

The arrangement according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that the crane column is provided with a plurality of connecting points for journalling the overhang beam at diiferent heights. Of these connecting points or bearings, each time that connecting point or bearing is selected which is spaced from the guide pulleys or sheaves at the crane column head by a distance which corresponds to the respective length of the overhang beam so that the said length will be proportional to said distance to such an extent that the horizontal load path will be assured during the whipping movements of the crane. Thus, the connecting point of the overhang beam at the crane column will be selected the lower the greater the length of the overhang beam. However, within the range of the customary overhang beams from the shortest length to the greatest length, the same crane construction is retained as well as the same size of the crane column.

The arrangement according to the present invention brings about a considerable technical advance inasmuch as for cranes of one and the same general construction with differently long overhang beams a single and only a single size of the crane column will be required.

A further advantage brought about by the present invention consists in that the crane column can be kept relatively low, which is of particular advantage in connection with shipping cranes, the main field of employment of the subject matter of the present invention, so that the interference of this type of crane with adjacent parts of the ship or the traffic on the ship will be reduced to a minimum.

In further development of the present invention, a plurality of connecting or bearing points at different levels are provided for the elevating cylinder piston systems controlling the hydraulic elevation of the overhang beam. Such an arrangement makes it possible in each instance to maintain a certain distance of the cylinder connection with the crane column from the connecting or hearing point of the overhang beam on the crane column so that always the same cylinder construction or cylinder size can be employed.

In further development of the present invention, the crane column is provided with an upwardly extending bearing plate or bar for the connecting points or bearings and connecting means such as pivots at various levels for the above mentioned cylinder piston system and the overhang beam.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the crane shown therein represents a ship whipping crane with hydraulic drive and horizontal load path. The crane comprises a crane column 1 carrying at the head thereof guide pulleys or sheaves 2. for the rope or cable 3. The crane furthermore comprises an overhang beam 4 (FIG. 1) or 5 (FIG. 2). The overhang beam comprises two arms (one only being shown) which form an acute angle with each other. One end of each arm is pivotally connected to crane column 1, whereas the other ends of said arms at the apex of the angle formed thereby carry the top pulleys or sheaves 6 for the rope or cable.

As will be seen from FIG. 1, the overhang beam 4 has a length 1 whereas the overhang beam 5 in FIG. 2 has a length l These lengths correspond to the different lengths of the overhang of the cranes of FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively. It is only in this respect that the structural parts of the two figures differ from each other. In all other structural respects the cranes are alike which means they also have a crane column 1 of the same size and construction. The level at which the bearings 7 and 8 for the overhang beams are arranged on the crane column 1 corresponds to the different lengths l and 1 The bearing 8 is located at a lower level than the bearing 7 to such an extent that the heights h and h up to the respective head pulleys 2 in both instances are proportional to the lengths l and I of the respective overhang beam pertaining thereto to the extent that the obtainment of a horizontal load path will be assured during the whipping operation. In other words, the respective conditions may be expressed by the proportional equation h :l =h :l

As has been clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, also the bearing or supporting means 11 for the hydraulic cylinder 9 in FIG. 2 are located at a lower level than the bearing or supporting means 10 in FIG. 1, namely to such an extent that the distance of said hearing or supporting means from the hearing or supporting means 7 and 8 respectively will be the same in both instances.

FIG. 3 illustrates by way of example the arrangement of the bearings T and 8 and 10 and 11 at different heights on the crane column. As will be seen from FIG. 3, the column is provided with two upwardly extending plates or bars 12 respectively arranged on opposite sides of the column for the bearing of those two ends of the arms of the overhang beam which are pivotally connected to the column. The pivots 13 for the overhang beam 4 or 5 may be respectively journalled in the bearings 7 or 8. The connection itself may be effected in any standard manner. The bearings may be inserted into the column and welded thereto or may be connected in any other suitable way to the column.

The column is furthermore provided with metal strips or bars 14 arranged on opposite sides of the column for receiving the bearings for the cylinders 9 which in their turn carry pivots 15 to be connected to said bearings. Also in this instance, a plurality of bearings at difierent heights are provided so that the pivot connection of the cylinders 9 may be effected accordingly.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawings but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a crane column structure for a whipping crane: a crane column, guide pulley means carried by the upper end of said crane column, an overhang beam pivoted at one end to the column, and a plurality of bearing means respectively arranged at predetermined different levels of and supported by said column toward the bottom thereof for journalling the said one end of the respective overhang beam with which said crane is to be equipped, the distances of said bearing means from said pulley means corresponding to the length of the respective overhang beam to be journaled in the said respective bearing means, other pulley means carried by the outer end of the beam, a load cable passing over said guide pulley means and said other pulley means and including a portion dependent at the outer end of the beam to support a load, and other bearing means arranged at predetermined different levels of and supported by said column toward the top thereof for pivotally receiving one end of an actuating pistoncylinder means having its other end pivoted to the respective beam carried by said column.

2. In a crane column structure for a whipping crane: a crane column, guide pulley means carried by the upper end of said crane column, an overhang beam pivoted at one end to the column, a plurality of bearing means respectively arranged at predetermined different levels of and supported by said column for journalling said one end of the respective overhang beam with which said crane is to be equipped, the distances of said bearing means from said pulley means corresponding to the length of the respective overhang beam to be journalled in said bearing means, and a plurality of additional bearing means respectively arranged at predetermined different levels from and above said first mentioned bearing means for journalling one end of an actuating cylinder piston means which said crane is to be equipped, said actuating cylinder piston means at the other end pivotally engaging said beam, other pulley means carried by the outer end of the beam, and a load cable passing over said guide pulley means and said other pulley means and including a portion dependent at the outer end of the beam to support a load.

3. An arrangement according to claim 2, in which the spacing between the additional bearing means substantially equals the spacing between the corresponding ones of first mentioned means.

4. In a crane column structure for a whipping crane: a vertical crane column, guide pulley means carried by the upper end of said crane column, first vertical bearing plate means firmly connected to said column toward the lower end thereof and provided with a plurality of bearing means respectively arranged at predetermined different levels of said crane column with respect to said guide pulley means for journalling one end of an overhang beam with which said crane is to be equipped, and second vertical beaning plate means firmly connected to said column toward the upper end thereof and provided with additional bearing means respectively arranged at predetermined different levels of said column with respect to corresponding bearing means of said first bearing plate for journalling one end of an actuating cylinder piston means with which said crane is to be equipped, said actuating cylinder piston means at the other end pivotally engaging the respective beam carried by the column, pulley means carried by the outer end of the beam, and a load cable passing over said guide pulley means and said other pulley means and including a portion dependent at the outer end of the beam to support a load.

5. In a crane column structure for whipping cranes: a crane column, said crane column on its upper end having guide pulley means for receiving a load cable passing over the pulley means mounted on the outer end of an overhang beam, first bearing means on the column toward the lower end thereof for pivotally receiving the inner end of said beam, the respective distance of said first hearing means from said guide pulley means being variable and bearing a predetermined relation to the length of v the respective overhang beam to be journalled in said first bearing means, second bearing means on the column toward the upper end thereof for pivotally receiving one end of a piston-cylinder means which has its other end pivotally connected to the respective beam mounted on the columns, the distance of said second bearing means from said first bearing means being variable in accordance with the respective beam mounted on the column.

6. A crane column structure for whipping cranes according to claim 5, in which said first bearing means comprises a plurality of individual bearings arranged at respectively different levels on said crane column.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,368,157 Jardine Feb. 8, 1921 1,961,541 Adams June 5, 1934 2,397,271 Ladwig Mar. 26, 1946 2,675,209 Freed Apr. 13, 1954 2,774,483 Raymond Dec. 18, 1956 2,804,979 Lassiter Sept. 3, 1957 2,807,374 McLean Sept. 24, 1957 2,890,043 Bruns June 9, 1959 

